Harry Howell Carney (April 1, 1910 - October 8, 1974) was a jazz saxophonist and clarinettist who spent more than four decades as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Early life

Carney was born on April 1, 1910 in Boston, Massachusetts.[1] In Boston, he grew up close to future bandmate Johnny Hodges.[2] Carney began by playing the piano at age seven, moved to the clarinet at 14, and added the alto saxophone a year later.[1] He first played professionally in clubs in Boston.[1]

Later life and career

After playing a variety of gigs in New York City at the age of 17, Carney was invited to join the Duke Ellington band for its performances in Boston in 1927.[5][note 1] He soon recorded with Ellington too, with a first session in October that year.[5] Having established himself in the Ellington band, he stayed with it for the rest of his life.[1] The band began a residency at the Cotton Club in New York at the end of the year.[5]

After Ellington added more personnel in 1928, Carney's main instrument became the baritone saxophone.[5] He was a dominant figure on the baritone in jazz, with no serious rivals on the instrument until the advent of bebop in the mid-1940s.[7] Within the overall sound of the Ellington band, Carney's baritone was often employed to play parts of harmonies that were above the obvious low pitching of the instrument; this altered the textures of the band's sound.[8]

Carney was the longest serving player in Ellington's orchestra.[3] On occasions when Ellington was absent or wished to make a stage entrance after the band had begun playing the first piece of a performance, Carney would serve as the band's conductor.[] The Ellington orchestra typically travelled on a tour bus, but Ellington himself did not; he was driven separately by Carney, a "quiet, calm presence".[11]

Ellington wrote many showpiece features for Carney throughout their time together.[] In 1973 Ellington built the Third Sacred Concert around Carney's baritone saxophone.[12]

After Ellington's 1974 death, Carney said, "Without Duke I have nothing to live for".[5] Carney's final recording may have been under Mercer Ellington's leadership, for the album Continuum.[3] Four months after Duke's death, Carney also died, on October 8, 1974, in New York.[1]

Influence and legacy

Carney was an early jazz proponent of circular breathing.[12] He was also Hamiet Bluiett's favorite baritone player because he "never saw anybody else stop time" in reference to a concert Bluiett attended where Carney held a note during which all else went silent.[13]